About TeaDB

TeaDB is a website and podcast started by friends and tea lovers James Schergen and Denny Chapin. James and Denny are business partners professionally, running websites in tea-unrelated industries (AllTreatment, TheraThink). We invite you to learn alongside us in our tea journeys! Format-wise, TeaDB consists of weekly tea tastings (on youtube) and biweekly articles. In our videos we taste and review a tea and discuss the vendor/tea while giving our personal recommendation. The articles are an attempt to extend the English-speaking tea literature available on the internet and largely consists of curation from disparate sources and less-covered practical topics.

50 Responses to About TeaDB

Aloha guys, thanks for the great podcasts and education that you are putting out there. I am Elyse from Tealet, we are an online marketplace that connects independent tea growers with tea lovers. I would love to share some of our growers’ teas with you for your review. Please email me at elyse@tealet.com with an address if you would like some samples. I would also like to talk to you more about what we are trying to accomplish with Tealet.

Hey guys, thanks a lot for your podcasts and articles. I am especially enjoying the compendiums.

I was wondering if you have any recommendations for (or maybe you did some episodes on) late-evening tea. Tea that does not contain a lot of caffeine, especially if you are brewing it with cooler temperatures.

Thanks. And sorry if this comment section was not the appropriate place to ask this sort of stuff.

No worries, feel free to comment or ask questions anywhere! Here’s a couple common late night choices:

Hojicha (Japanese roasted stems) – This is a pretty typical Japanese nighttime drink. The stems and roasting both help to reduce the caffeine content. We talk about this briefly in the Green Tea Basics Episode.

You guys are doing an awesome job. I’d be hard pressed to find a more relevant tea blog out there. You’re saving us tea freaks a ton of time and money by conducting all of this detailed research and having video reviews that are informative and actually worth watching. Keep up the good work!

Love you compendiums and articles–have found them super helpful in learning about Wuyi and Puer.

I don’t think I’ve seen you guys talk about water. Some of the blogs out there (teamasters, teahabitat) suggest that the mineral content and PH of water is super important. But there doesn’t seem to be much codified information about water. Teahabitat, for instance, says PH of 7.5 for DC, but then other DC blogs don’t mention it.

All this leaves me wondering what I’m supposed to do. Some of the blogs have rather complicated systems: boil with this or that, in this or that pot, leave the water out in this or that kind of container for this many or that many days…

I’m a pretty catholic tea drinker–Taiwanese, Wuyi, Japanese and Chinese green, some puer, dangcong. Sometimes I wonder if the DC, etc, doesn’t taste amazing because I’m using the wrong water.

Frankly speaking, I’ve only done very basic tests on water and have nothing huge to report. Personally, I suspect that for those using tap water or filtered water, results can vary dramatically depending on the source. Denny and I are based in the Pacific Northwest of the US, a place known for its excellent quality water.

I know some people will even switch up their kettle (tetsubin vs. ceramic) depending on the tea they are brewing. I’d checkout MarshalN, MattChas or Hobbes posts on water.

Just wanted to stop by and tell you thank you for producing such an incredible podcast and YouTube series.

I sent you an email a few days ago regarding some samples I would like to send you. I work for a white tea specialist and me and my co-worker Ross both talked him into sending you some of his 100% organic grown white tea, red tea, and white tea wu-long free of charge. If you are interested please email me back.

Again thank you guys for putting together such an intriguing podcast and YouTube series.

Really enjoyed the videos and articles on this website, keep up the good work!

Just wanted to introduce ourselves; We are a recently start-up tea website, Wymm Tea, specializing in Ancient Tree Pu-Erh. We are based in Kunming, China but currently reside in Vancouver, BC. We have plans to bring our family’s Pu-Erh business to North America and was hoping we could share some of our tea with you guys for reviews. Please let us know if you are interested and we could send some your way:)

I own a (very) small tea company called Teature. Part of my mission is to educate people who are interested in/employed in serving tea. That being said, I love your series. The openness of the knowledge you’re putting out there rules. I would love to talk to you guys more about stuff. You can contact me anytime you’d like via my comment E-mail address.
Thanks!

Hello you guys 🙂
I´m Elias from germany. I love your videos and your website and of couse i love drinking good tea. 😉
I have a kind of complicated question: I would love to try more different Pu Erh teas and decided to order from Yunnan Sourcing bc the shipping to germany is only 8 bucks and they seem to have very good and very cheap teacakes to try. (i´m a poor college student and will probaly only have arround 100 dollar to invest ). Can you give me some advice for good and cheap teacakes (preferably raw pu erh) so that i can taste some different teas and have a small stock to let them age? Unfortunately i can´t order some samples before ordering whole cakes because that would kill my bank account. :/
I hope you can help me and wish you a wonderful teadrinking summer!
Alles the best from germany,
Elias
ps.: sorry for my bad english 🙁 i´m kind of lacking practice a bit ;)﻿

Thanks for the comment and sorry for the tardy response. Yunnan Sourcing definitely does well in the cheap, functional and surprisingly good category. I’ve heard of some people liking that Dehong Yesheng mini-cake, although I haven’t tried it myself. The 2002 Ailao also might be good for the money. Hope that helps some.

I’ve just recently become interested in tea and i ran across your podcast. Great content you guys are producing. I’ve learned a lot from it.

I’ve never purchased any pu-erh tea, but i really wanna try it. I’m very uncertain about what to buy though. What price point do you generally shoot for on Yunnan sourcing? Would you have any advise for new pu-erh drinkers?

You may have released content that talks about this, but i haven’t gone through all your media yet.

Thanks for the comment and kind words. Hope the islands are treating you well! I go up there perhaps every other year or so.

I think with YS, you should sample a variety. Some people are perfectly satisfied at the lower-range, while others like something a little nicer. Scott is also very helpful for recommendations if you want to shoot them an email. If you buy from the .us site, it ships from Bend, Oregon and you’ll get the tea very quickly :).

I’m new to your website and YouTube channel, but I think both are great. Thanks so much for all the great tea information! Question: any suggestions for a good source for teaware? I am especially looking for Japanese-style cups, pots, etc. I would be grateful for any recommendations. Again, thanks!

Thanks for following.. I’d suggest Yunnan Sourcing or teaware.house for functional and decent teaware. Not too sure on Japanese teaware but perhaps someone else could chime in. I hear about https://yunomi.us/ but am unsure if they’re the best place to go or not.

Just a general note of thanks for putting together such an entertaining and informative resource. From a personal standpoint it has filled in some of the missing pieces in that having seen the gongfu tea as a child with my father and uncles but not understanding what exactly was going on, it has filled in the details as to what is going on in that particular tea experience. If you do not already know the 10-part history of tea on the attached link also helps to place Chinese tea in the context of world history and perhaps some of your other viewers might find rather informative as well and as it gives both the Chinese and English translation of terms and names it is a very good bridge between the two worlds.

Thanks very much to your jobs. Via your videos and articles, lots of people know much more about Chinese tea. I checked several videos, all the tea came from Sourthern China, such as Yunnan,Taiwan, Chongqing, etc. In fact, we also produce tea in Northern China, such as Laoshan tea, Rizhao tea. As far as I known, only two shops are selling Laoshan tea, one is of my friend, located in London. here is his website http://what-cha.com/. Because its low output, few people know, hope Laoshan tea and Rizhao tea could get approval in the near future. thanks

I’ve just started an interest in better teas. I’ve had tea for years but it’s always been from cheap bags so it’s time to begin exploring the world of loose leaf tea. Thank you guys for what you do … it’s tremendously helpful for us noviices. Do you have any podcasts for people just starting out on the journey? You have so many podcasts that I am having trouble finding any that deal with getting started. Thanks!

I really appreciate your website and video’s. Very informative, accessible to laymen but interesting enough for seasoned tea lovers nonetheless. Though tea is gaining popularity where I live, it’s very much viewed as a sort of weak watery drink for women or elderly people. That’s why it’s nice and refreshing to see two young modern men talking so knowledgeably, passionately and even unapologetically about quality tea.

Thanks for producing TDB and sharing your passion for tea. I’ve greatly enjoyed your videos, posts, and especially appreciate your the fun and honest approach to learning about the pleasures of tea. I’ve learned a great deal and I’ve had fun doing it. Thanks again. Drink well (slurp on!).

Cheers!
Deren

PS. With your help, my interest in tea has expanded to the history. I recently read ‘For All the Tea in China’ by Sarah Rose, and per recommendation, I am reading ‘The Great Tea Venture’ by J.M. Scott, both very good books. The latter one is very broad and informative history, filled with interesting stories from around the world, plus quotes and poetry. Great stuff.

Many thanks for you videos they have changed my Tea Experience around for the better! I drink tea all day the correct way now as a result of your informative videos.
Just got to this website this week, a treasure chest of info. Question on seeing Vendors here. But what do you think of Amazing-Green-Tea.com? I’ve got some great stuff from them. MeiLeaf.com I have not ordered with yet, but his offerings are outstanding.
Making a fall list to include your recommendations with YunanSourcing.
Thanks again.

Glad you’re enjoying the videos. I can recommend Yunnan Sourcing as a great place to buy from, although I’d caution you with MeiLeaf, especially with their pu’erh. They have some problematic claims and you can find posts by other vendors and steepster about it. Might be wise to read up before ordering.

Thanks for sharing your videos on Youtube. It’s nice to see some down to earth reviews and the latest video about the speed test is such a good point about drinking tea.

In my opinion, quality Yiwu puers are the easiest to drink on a daily basis although it can be pricey compared to the alternatives. I’d be interested in your views about the teas that I stock as I exclusively focus on our family Yiwu teas. I’d be happy to share a few samples if you’re interested.

I have some black tea that I would like to send your way for tasting. I have Yunnan Sourcing’s Drunk on Red 2014 with chrysanthemum buds and 2013 years. Would you be interested in tasting this? If not just tell me no and no hard feelings. I like this tea a lot but am also pretty new to the tea world. Love all the videos on youtube. Keep up the good work.

Hello,
Firstly, I thoroughly enjoy your Youtube videos. For many years I have been a green tea drinker. In the last year I have expanded into puerh (sheng) and Taiwan oolongs.
Now I have sort of lost my taste for green tea. My first love Verdant Laoshan GT I find flat. But, I have been enjoying greatly Anji Bai Cha very, very much. It could be my daily drinker if I wanted to drink GT exclusively. A tea shop in Tucson, Seven Cups offers 2 options/pickings for Anji Bai Cha, Yu Qian & Ming Qian. The Ming qian is significantly more expensive. I’m not a strong taster but I feel the Ming does have a special but subtle quality that I prefer (unfortunately).
I would suggest that you sample this tea, preferably both pickings from Seven Cups.
I’ve checked out other vendors regarding this tea and they only one option, without identifying whether it is the Yu or Ming. It is a light very satisfying tea.

Hi James,
I have bought from several of the Vendors you have on this list. I really like Floating leaves. Teavivre is just ok. You have done quite a few episodes with Taiwan Sourcing. I’m surprised they are not on your list of vendors. Thinking of placing an order. They have some interesting stuff. They still have some spring 2015’s. They seem kind of pricey. Is that why they are not on your list? I know most of his episodes are Pu’er tea. I am looking to purchase all Oolongs. Not sure I want to spend the money. Any advice?